Marceilles (December 1936) 1936

M.C. Escher made this wood engraving of Marceilles in December of 1936, and it's like he carved a whole world into being. Look at the crisscrossing bridge, the buildings, the water. Imagine him carefully cutting into the wood, each line precise, building up this elaborate scene bit by bit, thinking about perspective and form. You can almost feel the cold air of that December day in Marceilles! I wonder if Escher felt like he was building a world from scratch each time he made a print, kind of like a god figuring out the rules of reality. It reminds me a bit of Piranesi's architectural prints, that same sense of constructing a layered space. Each artist is in conversation with the other, figuring out a way to capture space on a flat plane. They show us how making something is about experimenting, discovering, and finding unexpected ways to see the world.